Dep Faulted On Safety-kleen

Legislators, Town Leader Say State `Dropped The Ball'

October 01, 1997|By DANIEL P. JONES; Courant Environment Writer

Two top lawmakers and a West Hartford neighborhood leader are accusing the state Department of Environmental Protection of failing to crack down on a company that wants to expand a hazardous-waste operation despite reports of numerous violations.

``It is clear in this case that DEP has simply dropped the ball,'' said Kevin B. Sullivan, D-West Hartford, Senate president pro tem.

FOR THE RECORD - Correction was published October 2, 1997 on Page A2.* Comments critical of the state Department of Environmental Protection in a story about Safety-Kleen Corp. on Page A4 Wednesday should have been attributed to state Rep. John Ritter, D-West Hartford, not House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter, D- Hartford.

``They didn't just drop the ball, they took the ball and went home,'' said Peggy Gray, co-president of the Charter Oak Neighborhood Association.

House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter, D-Hartford, called for an immediate delay in Safety-Kleen's application to the DEP to expand the company's West Hartford facility on Brixton Street, just off Oakwood Avenue in the Elmwood section.

``The fact that a state agency responsible for protecting Connecticut's environment could stand by and allow a company to continually violate state and federal environmental protection laws is incomprehensible,'' Ritter said. ``But when one hears that such an agency would not only delay enforcing state law but would actually go to such great lengths to assist a negligent company is simply beyond belief.''

Dean Pagani, spokesman for Republican Gov. John G. Rowland, defended the DEP and said Sullivan and Ritter were playing politics.

``The DEP is very much on top of this case, and where they have made mistakes they have admitted them. The public should have full confidence in its ability to see the case to a successful conclusion,'' Pagani said. ``Also I would like to point out that we are in the campaign season and it's clear that [Sullivan and Ritter] are taking a sensitive article and using it as an opportunity to attack the administration on partisan grounds.''

The lawmakers were reacting to a story in The Courant Monday that said Safety-Kleen is under investigation for a July spill of chemically tainted waste water into a river in Branford.

The story also said that, despite referring that case to the state attorney general, the DEP has delayed enforcement against Safety-Kleen in a case wider than the spill for nearly four years. The delay has occurred in the face of inspections that, according to agency documents, have turned up numerous violations and problems at the company's operations in West Hartford, Branford and Plainfield.

Michele Sullivan, a DEP spokeswoman, said the agency would not comment on any pending enforcement or permit issues.

Paul Wyche, a Safety-Kleen spokesman, has said the company deserves state permission to operate. He said the company's compliance with environmental laws has improved in recent years, and that Safety-Kleen is contesting a number of alleged violations that are the subject of a consent order, a type of enforcement settlement, being negotiated with the DEP.

Top DEP officials have denied enforcement against Safety-Kleen was delayed.

On Monday, John D. Shulansky, a Democratic candidate for the West Hartford Town Council, said he would work with Gray's neighborhood group to organize a public meeting next week at the Elmwood Community Center to discuss Safety-Kleen.